𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐒 [𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐢]

4

"Been feeling irritable?" My mother asks him.

"Yeah," he replies. "Possibly to the point of homicide."

"Inability to focus?"

"No, the Addedalls not working." His voice is shaky, and I can smell his stress from the hall.

"Impulsive behaviour?"

"More than my usual? Hard to tell."

"Vivid dreams during the day?"

"Okay, basically all of the above." He lets out a long sigh. "Do you know what this is?"

"I think so." She says calmly.

"Uh, what's that?"

I peak threw the window seeing my mother holding a needle. "Do you trust me?" She asks him.

"When you're not holding a needle." This makes mom laugh.

"It's Midazolam." She answers, pressing the needle into his arm before he has any time to react. "A sedative."

"Why did you give me a sedative?" He rubs his arm where she jaged.

"Because you, stiles, are one profoundly sleep- deprived young man." She pushes him down onto the hospital bed, "you need rest, you need it now. Lie down."

"Okay, his longs it takes to— oh. Not long at all." He allows my mom to pull the blanket over him, his eyes fluttering open and shut.

She brushes hair away from his head, "get some rest."

"Thanks, mom."

My mother looks to him with such sorrow, but a smile appears on her face before she makes her way out the room.

"What are you doing here." She whispers to me, slowly closing the door.

"I brought you dinner." I hold up the bag of takeout, I used to bring her food all the time before I went to stay with dad.

"Thank you, honey." She kisses my four-head.

"Is stiles okay?" It slips out my mouth before I can think about it and it even looks like it took my mom by surprise.

"He's just exhausted," She gives me a smile. "The sedative will keep him out but you can go in and see him if you like."

She walks away from me and I stare at the door for a moment, I can see stiles lying in the bed threw the window.

He has bags under his eyes and he's skinner than he normally is.

My hand reaches for the door.

"Nah," I shrug, jogging to catch up with my mom. "Not my problem if he stayed up too late playing fortnite."

She laughs me off but I can see the way she looks at me. "I thought you and stiles would be a thing one day."

I pretend to be sick but she just laughs me off.

***

Me and mom are sitting eating dinner in the staff room, I drop my paper plate down, yawning, as I sink into the cheap brown couch.

"Do you want to head home?" Mom asked me, finishing off her noodles.

I take a glance out the window and see the dark clouds in the sky, meaning it's probably about to start raining. And I don't want to walk in the rain.

"How long till your shift ends?" I ask her.

"About an hour and half." She shrugs, stretching out her arms.

"Is it okay if I wait?" I ask, she gives me a nod and hands the tv remote to me before walking out of the room.

I'm skimming threw the channels but the signal is terrible in here so I just leave it on the MTV channel and cover myself in a blanket that was hanging on the arm of the chair.

I snuggle myself into it and try and get to sleep. But I didn't expect what happens next...